1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bill validation device for validating a bill to be used for playing a game such as a pinball game and a card game, and also to a gaming machine including the bill validation device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some gaming machines such as a slot machine are known each of which includes a bill validation device for validating a bill to be used for playing a game. For example, the present applicant has proposed this type of bill validation device in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-118203, previously filed. The bill validation device has a bill validation part for validating a bill inserted through a bill insertion opening, a mechanism for conveying a bill, and a bill stacker (cashbox) for stacking bills, the validity of which has been determined, i.e., which is authentic, by the bill validation part. The bill stacker is removably attached to a main body of the bill validation device so that bills stacked in the stacker can be withdrawn.
Some other gaming machines are known each of which includes a data recording medium processing unit (card unit) for processing a data recording medium (data recording card) such as an IC card, as disclosed in Laid-open Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-299875. Such a gaming machine including a data recording medium processing unit issues a data recording medium recording payout information as required, which can advantageously enhance the security. Moreover, since a data recording medium is reusable, the effort for supplementing paper can be saved and also waste of paper can be prevented, which is economical, compared with a gaming machine outputting payout information on paper, for example.